Houthis Again Target Israel’s International Airport With Ballistic Missile

The Houthis have responded to Israel’s major Friday airstrikes on sites across Yemen by launching two ballistic missiles at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv.

The Israeli military announced Sunday morning the intercept of at least one inbound ballistic missile, saying there were no injuries or casualties from the attack, only light injuries of people clamoring into bomb shelters.

“Sirens had sounded across central Israel, including in Tel Aviv, and the Shfela and Sharon regions, sending nearly a million residents scrambling to bomb shelters,” Times of Israel reports.

“Preceding the sirens by some five minutes, an early warning was issued to residents, alerting civilians of the long-range missile attack via a push notification on their phones,” the report continues.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree later confirmed in a statement the group’s intent to strike Ben Gurion international airport again, after earlier this month scoring a direct hit. 

Crucially, he warned that Ansarallah (the Houthis) will keep up these attacks until the “siege is lifted” – in reference to Gaza. Already, the United States military has withdrawn from engaging the Houthis, after President Trump said a ceasefire had been agreed to.

As for the new missile attack, the IDF said its air defenses shot down the missile at around 2am. The second Houthis missile is believed to have likely fallen far short of its target, perhaps landing in the desert. Iranian state media had described it as a ‘hypersonic missile’ launch – though this seems dubious.

All of this means there will likely be more Israeli attacks on Yemen to come. “The IDF now struck and severely damaged the ports in Yemen that are under the control of the Houthi terror group. The airport in Sanaa also remains destroyed,” Israeli Defense Minister Katz said Friday.

“As we said, if the Houthis continue to fire missiles on Israel, they will suffer painful blows, and we will also strike the heads of terror just as we did to Deif and the Sinwars in Gaza, to Nasrallah in Beirut and Haniyeh in Tehran,” he added.

اعتراض صاروخ في #تل_أبيب أطلق من #اليمن.. وإغلاق مؤقت لمطار بن غوريون أمام عمليات الإقلاع والهبوط #سوشال_سكاي pic.twitter.com/jhZiE89CAh

— سكاي نيوز عربية (@skynewsarabia) May 18, 2025

And so it looks as if each side will continue trading tit-for-tat blows, but civilians will continue to suffer – and civilian aviation in the whole region could be impacted.

Israel has vowed to decapitate Houthi leadership, saying it will hunt down and eliminate Abdul-Malik al-Houthi in Yemen, along with his top military officials.

But short of an actual ground war, which Israel doesn’t have the stomach for – also given ongoing Gaza operations – taking out Houthi leadership and infrastructure will be easier said than done.